Asylum of the Autobots
by TacticianZephine
Summary: Movierverse AU: A Cybertronian "plague" ship crash-lands on the moon carrying at least one hundred lunatics, two of which are convicted killers. Optimus, Chromia, Elita, Arcee and Ratchet must secure the ship before the patients escape and make their way to Earth.
1. Chapter 1

**I did a thing... and... I should feel bad.**

* * *

"Optimus!"

The Autobot leader glanced up from his conversation with Ratchet as Will Lennox ran into the room, closely tailed by Robert Epps. "Colonel Lennox, you seem out of breath."

"I ran the entire compound," he panted. "I think I broke the two-minute record."

"Well, what is it?"

"Just got a call from the Pentagon. NASA satellite picked up imagery of a carrier-class Cybertronian ship crashing onto Mars."

"How do you know it is Cybertronian?"

"It's got the marks all over it, but we can't tell if it's Autobot or Decepticon."

Prime stood, walking over to the monitor on the wall and bringing up the NASA satellite feed. "When exactly did the event occur?"

"An hour ago."

Optimus found the image, and zoomed in on the ship. Both he and Ratchet studied the markings, and gasped in stereo.

"What? What is it?" Lennox asked.

"But how... that ship was lost..." Ratchet said quietly. "Wasn't that ship lost?"

"I had thought so," Optimus lamented. "I might have even hoped."

"What is it?"

"That, Colonel Lennox, is the _Axalon Gamma_."

"Also called 'the Asylum'," Ratchet whispered.


	2. Chapter 2

"The Asylum? Like a nuthouse?"

Optimus searched the term on the Internet, and nodded. "Yes, a mental institution. You see, before the war... quite a few centuries before, actually... there was an experimental mental health facility. You see, the mentally ill from the cities were sent out to facilities in the less populated areas of the planet. The problem with that was escapees, they would break out and run to the villages and towns nearby to hide."

Ratchet nodded a bit. "Well, sometimes, the families they ran to would refuse to help them, and those families would be hurt or even killed. The mentally ill and the crimminally insane were the stuff of adolescent horror stories, much as they are here."

"The _Axalon Gamma_ was a retired carrier ship that was converted into a facility to hold a group of patients that was carefully selected. There were one hundred twenty-five patients, one hundred seventy-five doctors and nurses, and two hundred miscellaneous staff members like security guards and maintenence 'bots."

"From the look of that crash, I'd wager that only sixty or so survived."

"The goal of the experiment was to see if these carriers were better for the safety of the general populace than the traditional mental hospital. Even if the patients managed to escape, there would be nowhere for them to go. It worked wonderfully, but the ship's navigation system malfunctioned. The boosters suddenly activated, and the ship was lost. We thought we'd never see it again. There was even a service for the families, so that the presumed dead could be honored."

Ratchet looked back at the ship. "That vessel contained five of the most dangerous crimminals in the world. If they've survived, they'll certainly make their way to Earth."

"So, how do we make that not happen?" Will asked.

"We'll have to travel to the moon and secure the ship," Optimus declared. "Bring any surviving staff to our base."

"... What about the patients?"

The Autobot commander said nothing for a few minutes, then sighed. "We cannot allow them to come to Earth. They will have to be dispatched, and the bodies disposed of."

The medic looked shocked. "Optimus, you don't mean...?"

"I'm afraid so, old friend. We have no choice but to euthanize them."


	3. Chapter 3

"As far as I can tell, there are five patients that we need to worry about. Red Alert, a paranoid schizophrenic, Sizzle, OCD to the extreme, and Whirl, an aggressive, mentally damaged ex-soldier. They're the easy ones," Ratchet informed the team.

Optimus nodded. "Our bigger problems start with Nightbird, who is your basic hardcore psychotic. She's a vicious, mechacidal maniac. She was manipulated by, as well as an accomplice to and an assassin for, her long-time partner in crime as well as in love."

"Which brings us to Prowl. He is a psychosociopathic serial killer. His official body count is twenty-five known victims, including his own sister, but is implied to be much, much higher."

"Nightbird slaughtered at least nine in her lover's name, but her body count is also implied to be higher than listed."

"Okay. So, how do you intend to take care of this problem?" Will asked. "If these five are still kicking, I mean."

"Well, Prowl, Nightbird, and Red Alert are likely indisposed, considering that they were locked in solitary confinement cells, Red Alert for his own safety, Prowl and Nightbird for the safety of the crew and the other patients, Sizzle and Whirl aren't much of a threat, but they'll still put up a fight." Ratchet looked over to his commander.

"We need to mobilize quickly."

"Who'll we take?"

"You and I, as well as Elita, Arcee... and Chromia."

"Chromia? But, Optimus... Chromia's period of mourning hasn't ended..."

"Mourning?" Will asked. "Mourning who?"

"Her lost mate, Ironhide," Ratchet sighed. "Optimus, I must protest, it isn't right to take her along if she's still mourning."

"I want to go," a soft female voice said.

Everyone turned. The streamlined blue femme stood in the doorway, and Will, who hadn't seen her since she and her fellow females had returned from England with Grahmn, was a little shocked at her appearance. Her blue paint had been marred by intricate black patterns. Brands, it seemed, her plating had been scorched. Was this a Cybertronian mourning custom?

"Chromia, no one's forcing you to-"

"He would want me to," she interrupted, touching a hand to her spark chamber. "Ironhide would want me to help in any way I can."

"... All right, thank you Chromia."

Once the blue femme had slipped off, Ratchet turned to Optimus. "As her physician, and your resident mental health diagnostic expert, I forbid her from going on this mission."

"Why?"

"Don't you understand, Optimus? The agony she feels every day is too much for even her to bear. She's accepted involvement this mission because she knows that death is a possibility for all involved. It's suicide camoflagued as a combat fatality, I've seen too many cases of it to count. She'll accompany us, then she'll step between one of us and an assailant. She'll look like some sort of hero, and she'll be reunited with Ironhide."

"I can't tell her no, Ratchet. We'll just make certain that someone is with her at all times."


	4. Chapter 4

**Here's your REAL Christmas present. It's an update!**

* * *

The team stepped out of the shuttle. Arcee looked up at the asylum, then at Optimus.

_Ratchet_, the Autobot leader transmitted over the . _Scan for life signatures inside. At least we can see how many are in there_.

The medic nodded. After a couple seconds, he looked startled. _I'm picking up at least one hundred life signatures. Ninety-nine normal, and one strange one that could be physically ill or wounded_.

_Right. Everyone, proceed with caution, we are entering the Axalon Gamma now._

*****  
They entered the wreck, the airlock sliding shut behind them. This would be a normal environment, normal sound transmission and everything.

"All right," Optimus started. "There are one hundred surviviors. Ratchet can't tell if they're staff or patients, so we must proceed with caution."

"Hello?" a scratchy female voice said. "Who is there?!"

Everyone turned around, blasters aimed. A slight female was hiding just around a corner. A blue visor and a mouthplate were pretty much her entire face, like Blaster's old friend, Rewind. "Who are you?"

"Who are _you_?" Arcee said roughly.

"... My name is Hoist... I... I worked here... are you here to save us?"

Optimus waved his team down. "Yes, Miss, we're here to rescue the survivng staff. How many other staff members are alive?"

"I do not know... I do not think there were any... I have seen no one..." She trembled a little. "I can take you to our control room, however. It is intact, and the life signatures of everyone on board were monitored. It was designed to alert us to the suicide or attempted suicide of a patient."

Ratchet looked at Optimus. "Can she be trusted?"

"If she were a patient, there is no doubt she'd've attacked us by now. She certainly wouldn't offer this much help."

"If you doubt that I am staff," she started, startling everyone. "All staff had badges, indication their position." She turned her wrist over, revealling a set of glyphs in the shape of what looked like a triangle within a circle. She pointed to the sign beside the door, where the same symbol was located. "See?"

"All right, Miss. If you'll kindly lead us to your control room..."

She nodded, leading the way.

*****  
She led them into the control room, and then waited in the doorway while they looked things over. The screen seemed to be a map of the asylum, with names of staff members in a key on the non-functioning panel of the screen, which showed the control room. There was only one light on for staff, but the five Autobots didn't register on there at all.

"It seems that our guide is the only surviving staff member," Ratchet analyzed. "Which means that there are ninety-nine patients, all concentrated in groups here. Perhaps they're all trapped."

"Let me see," their guide said, peering over Ratchet's shoulder. "Well, these ones here, they are catatonics, sir, in the Intensive Care Ward. These others... that is the Minimum Security Recreation Hall. There are sixteen in there. The Medium Security , another sixteen. The Maximum Security , sixteen. The Cargo Bay, thirty-one... how did they get down there? The Cargo Bay was destroyed, I thought..."

"It's not important. I need to know one thing: Are any of the three Maximum Security Patients alive?" Optimus asked.

"Red Alert is online, I know nothing of Prowl, and I believe Nightbird is dead."

"And... her other half?"

"Ember has been dead for a long time, sir."

"Shame," Ratchet sighed. "She worked with my brother as a secretary for a long while."

"Yes. The last time we ever saw that side of Nightbird was before the lunatics took over the asylum. That's why the _Axalon Gamma_ vanished, because the patients rioted, and commandeered the carrier. Many of my fellow staff members were killed in the uprising."

"Who led the riot?"

"Prowl, who else? The mech is a hardcore psychotic. No, actually, it was the belief of myself and of my collegues that he cannot be properly defined as insane. It is quite possible that to deal with Prowl is to deal with some sort of super-sanity. A brilliant modification of perception. He seems to have no control over the sensory intake he recieves from the world around him. He can only cope with the overload by letting things happen. That would explain why some of the time, he is an elegant, polite gentlemech, and other times, he is a psychopathic killer. He does not have a true personality." She toed the floor. "Please, take your time to scan the map if you need. I will watch the door."

Ratchet and Optimus nodded as the femme padded back to the doorway. Elita was looking over the map, and she spoke as soon as the doors shut behind Hoist. "So, we have seventy-nine patients to worry about."

"Yes. Seventy-nine patients that we need to watch out for. That's seventy-nine more murders than I intended to commit today," Optimus sighed. "But we must prevent them from reaching Earth."

"All right. But what happens if-"

There was suddenly a loud scream from behind the door.

"What the-"

"HOIST!" Arcee yelled.

Ratchet rushed to the door, hitting the "open" button on the airlock. A loud, childlike cackle echoed through the halls, blasting through their audios as the airlock hissed open. The sweet voice chanted something in Pre-War Cybertronian, the sound echoing in the corridor, and all that Optimus could catch was "look down".

"It wants us to look down."

"Well, I almost don't want to now," Elita said, glancing at her mate.

"We look on three," Ratchet said firmly. "One. Two. Three."

Everyone looked down, and recoiled a little. The femmes all shuddered and turned away, and Optimus covered his mouthpiece. Even Ratchet felt a little sick.

There on the floor, in a puddle of Energon, was their guide's visor, voicebox, and mouthplate.


End file.
